I really like the appearance of the grooves in the upper cladding but can't quite figure out what they really are. I'm thinking that they must be strips of glass without any tinting whatsoever that stand out in contrast to the blue tinted glass next to them. Is that right or are they something different?

As someone who sees this building on a daily basis I can confidently say the mast does not look as bad as some are making it out to be. Sure, the radome would have looked a million times better, but theres nothing anyone can do. Once complete I think it will look pretty good!

On 2nd thought, probably right. The issue about the antenna/spire, has gotten us strayed away from the upshot of this thread, which is about the rest of this building, and we, or at least I am eagerly awaiting, the completion of the glass skin facade, to the very top. Even if the building itself, is not complete by then, it'll look even better from the outside, when that part is complete. Another major milestone.

Just joined and as a NYC transplant to California, LOVE following the progress of 1WTC. Thanks everyone for the pictures! So amazing to get the skyline back.

You know, the banter about the spire is so interesting and makes me reflect on my childhood. When the WTC was completed, my parents took us kids down to the "fill" (what is now Battery Park City) circa 1972-ish. It was really just a huge field of dirt and sand and we had a BBQ. I'll never forget people complaining about the towers. Non-stop. "They don't match Manhattan"... "The most boring slab-sided buildings ever erected"... "They ruin NYC". On and on and on. Then, a few years later when they put the antenna on the north tower, people went berserk. Now, 40 years later, I bet all those folks miss the twin towers as much as I do... antenna and all.

As an engineer, I can tell you, I can't see HOW the radome could have possibly been maintained/repaired. I know many doubt the explanation by the builders but I have to say, it would have been impossible to clean/maintain/repair that multi-panel covering without erecting scaffolding or installing some kind of permanent "kangaroo crane". The other option would have been to affix the panels on the interior of a skeleton but that would present even greater challenges.

It's difficult to see it now, but believe me, once the temporary platforms are removed... and the cranes vanish... the design pattern from a distance (which is the view EVEYRYONE will see... not the close-ups posted here) will not look transparent... it will appear solid and actually resemble the original radome pattern... particularly since most people will be looking UP at the spire, not directly into it at close range.

The current design actually resembles the AT&T building antennas in SoHo... transparent and clunky zoomed in... but solid and patterned from afar:image hosted on flickr